that would just bolt right in, andI didn’t want to spend a bunchof money having somethingcustom built. But after I alignedthe car the first time, it was reallycomposed; not perfect, but I coulddrive the car and I stuck with it.”He looked at swaybaroptions, but came up empty,there, too. “Other than tiresand an alignment and somewheels, that’s all I bought for theCamaro,” he explains. Come theSolo National Championshipsthat year, he bested the second-place WRX by some 1.5sec.

While much of Mark’s
autocrossing success has come
in the modification-limited Street
category, I noticed that Mark’s
strategy is often genius in its
minimalism. So, I inquired.

“I’ve always liked simplicitybecause I feel like 90 percentof the sport is mental, gettingthe interface right between theMark’s process will be put tothe test this year as his move toC Street behind the wheel of a2019 Mazda MX- 5 is requiringmore of a heavy hand in tuning.

But he’ll be at Lincoln Airpark
this September for the Solo
National Championships, and per
our predictions elsewhere in this
issue, we anticipate him clinching
a fourth National Championship
title despite that challenge.

Autocross tips and Solo insight
kept flowing long after the voice
recorder was put to rest during
our Thursday morning coffee shop
interview. Truly, speaking with
Mark leaves you excited about
your own next autocross, and
you’re also left with confidence
that the future of SCCA Solo is
in good hands through Mark’s
involvement with the SEB. Yes, in
2014 Mark may have been a Solo
Nationals rookie, but there’s oh so
much more to Mark than that.

MEETING PLACE

Mark currently sits on the Solo Events Board (SEB), the group of volunteers largely
responsible for SCCA’s autocross program and ruleset. In fact, we had to pause our
photoshoot while Mark participated in one of the SEB’s monthly conference calls.

driver and car – the other 10
percent is the setup,” he tells me.

“Now, the car obviously needs towork right, it needs to be prettydamn close to the correct setup,otherwise you’re not going to becompetitive. You’re not going totake a stock car on stock tiresand do well, unless maybe you’resomeone like Bryan Heikotter.”Mark also emphasizes thenext step: “I work on me – I workon executing the run,” he says.

“This philosophy has led tosimple vehicle setups. In fact,for every car that I’ve run,for the most part, I’ve neverspent more than a thousandbucks on a set of shocks.”Another tip Mark offers forthose looking for additionalspeed come this year’s SoloNational Championships – or anyautocross, for that matter – isjust as simple. “I believe thatconfidence is huge,” he states.

“You are a little bit of confidence
away from being that next step
better. Believe it and believe
that you can do it. Yes, you still
need to execute the run, and
yes, you still need to do all of the
things you know how to do, but
you’ve got to believe it first.”